Holden's Depression and Self-Doubt in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye Essay

Holden's Depression and Self-Doubt in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye Essay

Essay Preview

As Eugene McNamara stated in his essay “Holden Caulfield as Novelist”, Holden, of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, had met with long strand of betrayals since he left Pencey Prep. These disappointments led him through the adult world with increasing feelings of depression and self-doubt, leading, finally to his mental breakdown.
Holden’s first betrayal was that of his memory and innocence by an egotistical peer. At Pencey Prep, he roomed with a student named Stradlater; the epitome of a teenage jock. Stradlater was openly very vain; as Holden stated as he watched Stradlater gaze at himself in the mirror, “he was madly in love with himself. He thought he was the handsomest guy in the Western Hemisphere” (27). Because of his inflated ego and good looks, Stradlater figured that he would steal the breath from any girl he wanted. To Holden, he admitted that the girl of the hour was a “Jean Gallagher” (31). Here was the betrayal: this “Jean” and the Jane that Holden had spent childhood summers with playing a cool game of checkers on the porch were one and the same. Holden had ...

- It is amazing that two completely different characters could not only be faced with an identical dilemma, but also both react in such comparable ways. The resemblance of the characters’ struggles because of alienation in the popular novels The Catcher in the Rye and Speak is astonishing. Alienation can be caused by many factors and result in many consequences. But it is interesting how the situations individuals face can be quite similar. Within Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, and Anderson’s novel, Speak, both protagonists are alienated by those around them.... [tags: Isolation, Teenagers]

- Depression, a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. This mental illness demonstrates to affect teens as much as it affects adults. Studies show that 20 percent of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood. When you deal with depression, you often find it difficult to live an everyday normal life. The “Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D Salinger, narrates on the main character Holden Caulfield, a hostile and negative person, who suffers from severe depression.... [tags: The Catcher in the Rye Essays]

- Nineteen million American adults suffer from a major case of depression (Web MD). That is a staggering one in every fifteen people (2 in our classroom alone). Holden Caulfield is clearly one of those people. Depression is a disease that leads to death but is also preventable. Psychology, stressful events, and prescription drugs are causes of depression. Stressful events brought on Holden’s depression. Holden has been trying to withstand losing a brother, living with careless parents, and not having many friends.... [tags: The Catcher in the Rye Essays]

- Everybody feels depressed at some time or another in their lives. However, it becomes a problem when depression is so much a part of a person's life that he or she can no longer experience happiness. This happens to the young boy, Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Mr. Antolini accurately views the cause of Holden's depression as his lack of personal motivation, his inability to self-reflect and his stubbornness to overlook the obvious which collectively results in him giving up on life before he ever really has a chance to get it started.... [tags: Catcher Rye Essays Salinger Papers]

- Depression in The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye by, J.D. Salinger is told through Holden the narrative in the story. The setting of the novel takes place in the 1940's early 1950's. Holden is sixteen years old and he has a lot of problems in his life. He becomes seriously depressed to the point he cannot deal with people and life around him. The 1940's were different from today. However, Holden Caulfield is similar to many other teenagers who go through the same problems.... [tags: Catcher Rye Essays]

- The theme of The Catcher in the Rye is simple. J. D. Salinger uses this novel to draw a clear distinction between the purity of childhood and the wickedness attained when one reaches adulthood. Salinger uses multiple literary devices including diction, symbolism, tone, and even the title of the novel to drive home his ideas about the innocence of children and the corruption of the world. The form of diction used in The Catcher in the Rye is a topic on which many people are strongly opinionated. Because the narrator speaks solely in the vernacular, the novel is ripe with vulgar language.... [tags: The Catcher in the Rye Essays]

- The hopelessness disease, millions of Americans suffer from this disease. Everybody gets the blues now and then. Those feelings can be especially strong during times of stress or loss. That's a normal part of life. After a while, the darkness lifts and things start to feel enjoyable again. Clinical depression has many affects, as the pain it causes in a person’s life, the physical affects, and these could lead to teen suicide. However, sometimes the sadness or loneliness persists, or gets worse, despite all attempts to "snap out of it." Tears or anger come easily and the simplest tasks seem difficult.... [tags: stress, depression, suicide, self-steem]

- “To those on the outside looking in, slicing your own arm with a razor blade is the stuff of horror movies,” writes Michelle Galley in Student Self-Harm: Silent School Crisis. People that self harm do it to help ease the pain of all the bad things going on in their lives. But, why do people choose to hurt themselves. People who self harm are rarely just looking for attention, as many people seem to believe. Self harmers cut places on their bodies that no one will see such as their thighs, stomachs, ankles, and even the underside of their breasts.... [tags: self-harm, stress, depression]

- Self Doubt in Hamlet William Shakespeare is widely known for his ability to take a sad story, illustrate it with words, and make it a tragedy. Usually human beings include certain discrepancies in their personalities that can at times find them in undesirable or difficult situations. However, those that are exemplified in Shakespeare’s tragedies include “character flaws” which are so destructive that they eventually cause their downfall. For example, Prince Hamlet, of Shakespeare’s tragedy play “Hamlet,” is seemingly horrified by what the ghost of his father clarifies concerning his death.... [tags: Free Hamlet Essays]

- In the begaining - In Anaheim California Eric Stefani Gwens older brother would write songs like (Stick it in a hole) about a pencil sharpener, and forcing Gwen to song with John their singer. In December of 1986 their singer John Spence quits and forces Gwen to sing at their first gig. In the summer of 1987 Gwen and Tony (their basses) start going out.December 21-1987 John Spence shots him self in a park in Anaheim Cal. In the spring of 1988 the heavy metal guitarist Tom, a college student,refuses his sisters offer to play in her band to play in No Doubt.In 1987-1988 part of the then underground-ska-scence, No Doubt built a huge following of " rude boys" and after... [tags: essays research papers]